


Endgame in its midst

by CometCat



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Trailer, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, BAMF Michelle Jones, Other, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Worried Ned Leeds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-01 11:20:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18334127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CometCat/pseuds/CometCat
Summary: This was inspired by the first Avengers: Endgame trailerThe tickets were released today and the new trailer KILLED ME





	Endgame in its midst

“He’s dead”

 

“He’s not”

 

“Well, he looks dead”

 

“Korg he needed oxygen, he’ll wake up any second-“

 

The voices were slowly making sense in Tony’s mind, he was trying to force himself awake before the female voice decided to listen to the one named ‘Korg’ some more. Tony shot up with a gasp, breathing heavily

 

“Holy shit, you were right” Korg said in what Tony could realise is a New Zealand accent.

 

“You good? Here drink” The woman dressed in silver god like armour said with no emotion, passing a large jug to Tony.

 

He took one sip and spat the vial drink onto the floor “what on earth is that?”

 

“Earth? Hey, that’s where Thor told us to go” the New Zealand accent said from behind. Tony finally turned around to look at the voice.

 

He instantly had a frown on his face, the… thing standing there was a rock.

 

A rock with arms, legs and a face was talking to him

 

“Of course you know Thor… everyone I’ve met out here knows Point Break”

 

The woman swiped the jug from his hands and lifted it to her mouth, gulping down the whole thing in 4 seconds tops. Tony was impressed.

 

“Thor helped me start my revolution, and Brunnhilde here-” the rock paused and turned to her “actually I don’t know how you know Thor?”

 

Tony also turned to look at the woman with white lines marking her face “Im a Valkyrie” she said as if that explained everything.

 

“Um okay, I’m Tony.” He said gathering himself from the floor.

 

“I’m Korg. And as you know that’s Brunnhilde, were using that escape pod there to get to earth… wanna come?” The giant creature gestured to the ship connected to his own with a large baton.

 

 

 

…

 

 

The compound had become a safe zone for the heroes, within the first week they had protesters out the front calling them out for not doing their job. Blaming them for the terror the planet was experiencing. They had to lock the gates as the brave ones stepped forward trying to cause havoc. Over the next few days, the people received no retaliation… so they left, and the gates stayed locked.

Steve and Natasha were in a study, it was dimly lit so they could see the screen that appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the room.  F.R.I.D.A.Y had called them in a few minutes prior as she had received a message from an off earth location.

 

Natasha with her blonde hair that was starting to fade took a place sitting on the arm of a chair, whilst Steve opted to stand.

 

The screen projected an image of a human like form crouching forward, the person moved back so you could see his face and the two stiffened at the projected form of Tony stark sitting on the ground.

 

The room filled with two loud dings like a tap on metal.

 

“This thing on?” Tony’s voice filled the room.

 

“Hey Miss Potts, if you find this this recording don’t feel bad about this… a part of the journey is the end.” Steve sat down.

 

“ Just for the record being adrift in space with zero promise of rescue is more fun then it sounds. Food and water ran out four days ago, oxygen will run out tomorrow morning. That will be it. When I drift off, I will dream about you, its always you.”

 

Tony disappeared. Steve stood with Natasha following “Is this an old message?”

 

“Message was received half an hour ago Mr Rogers” F.R.I.D.A.Y said almost pained. “It was sent 5 days ago”

 

Steve looked down to the floor, there was a hopeful second there that was instantly crushed

 

“Get Pepper over here” Natasha said sadly

 

“She has already been notified” came from the ceiling again.

 

…

 

Two weeks ago Michelle and Company knocked on Peters door. She had been on the bus on the way to the airport with her fellow students when Ned had called out that they were all gonna die she couldn’t help but gawk at the doughnut shaped alien ship with everyone else. When they all settled after watching it leave she noticed Peter wasn’t there and instantly moved to the seat next to Ned cornering him for answers.

 

They arrived at the art museum, everyone was on edge and the trip had been cancelled, they all filed back onto the bus to go home. Halfway through the trip the bus driver disappeared in a cloud of ash as did ten other students and the two teachers. With only five of them left Michelle took charge after their inevitable crash, stealing a car with a panicked little Jack Russell inside and driving them back to each of their homes. The other three students had at least one parent left and varying siblings.

 

Michelle, Ned and the dog they soon named Lucky went to Ned’s house where nobody was to be found, Ned left a note telling them to call if they were just out looking for him, but the call never came.

 

Next was Michelle’s house where they found her youngest 7 year old sister alone and crying hysterically. Michelle quickly wrapped Jasmine in a bone crushing hug. Jasmine had confirmed Michelle’s dreaded thought that the rest of her family were gone too.

 

The streets were filled with ash of every living thing. Half of the universe had disappeared and no one knew. They didn’t know if there was a second wave coming, if they were safe or not. There was global wide panic, and destruction.

 

The four of them ate some food and locked up the house, taking their family car to unmanned fuel station and filled up the car. When Michelle got back inside, Ned looked extremely upset. He wasn’t crying, but he wasn’t far off it.

 

“Ned?” That’s all Michelle spoke for Ned to break down, finally. He’d held it in this long, but his shock has died down and his emotions are running hot now.

 

“Where are we going Mishy?” Called Jasmines small voice from the back, Michelle turned to her sister who is strapped to her car seat holding Lucky.

 

“A friends house Jaz”

 

Michelle started the car, hesitantly rubbed Ned’s arm then took off. Twenty minutes of dodging crazed people and car accidents later they arrived at Peters apartment block.

 

Michelle helped Jaz out of her seat whilst Ned held Lucky. They walked up to the apartment door and tried to turn the handle, but it was locked. Instead they knocked.

 

May frantically opened the door, hoping that her kid was the one she was about to see. Her face was pained as she looked at them.

 

“Peter?” She asked expectantly towards Ned, who just shook his head.

 

May pulled the Hawaiian boy into a hug. Then Michelle, she also gave Jasmine a soft squeeze of the shoulder and a sweet smile. They all went inside, May heard the story from when Peter raced off the bus to them knocking on her door. Not interrupting a wink until they were finished.

 

It was May’s idea initially to go to the compound, it was Michelle’s plan that initiated it. The only problem was they weren’t letting anyone inside. This was the one and only time that Michelle would curse a protest for human rights, they were the reason the gates were locked and the electric fence was turned on.

 

They ended up heading back to Michelle and Jasmines house as it was much larger than May’s apartment for them all to sleep and thanks to her fathers excessive doomsday shopping every three months they had copious amounts of food that would last them a solid two years.

 

They got to work quickly with a plan of how to get inside the facility, then Ned was the one with the incredibly useful hacking skills. May tried to help as much as she could but decided that she was a little out of her depth, so mostly she just kept Jasmine and Lucky entertained.

 

Eventually they had their plan set in place and they were gearing up for the most badass thing they had ever attempted.

 

…

 

Tony was on an escape pod with a group of towns folk Asgardians, one warrior, and a giant talking rock. He wasn’t sure if he was hallucinating or just simply dead.

 

He was given a meal and water, not a jug of alcohol (he checked). The ship was moving light years faster than he could realise, destined to land on earth in two days.

 

Tony walked out whilst Brunnhilde was telling a small group of the Asgardians who had awoken during the stop about Hulk and Tony was intrigued. He stood at the door watching the Valkyrie’s ecstatic hand gestures as she told the story of her prized friend.

 

It was odd to hear about a civilised Hulk, it was nice though.

 

“You know Banner too?” He spoke as the story ended. The small group made to leave as Brunnhilde stood and approached the hitch hiker.

 

“Only for a few hours, but I found Hulk two years ago…” She took a swig from the bottle that always seemed to be in her hand.

 

“Wait… Bruce was Hulk for two years?” Tony stood up straighter

 

“ Yeah, then Thor showed up and almost beat Hulk in a fight, then we decided to escape the planet because Thor and his bastard brother had to go and save Asgard from their evil sister who escaped from Hel after their father died. Which really technically we destroyed Asgard and set the course for earth then that purple asswipe showed up and killed half the population and we escaped in this tiny thing”

 

Tony looked at her with his raised eyebrows and arms crossed over his chest.

 

“Right then”

 

“How do you know Banner?” She asked taking her seat again.

 

Tony followed and sat too “We were in the Avengers together”

 

“What, what’s the Avengers?”

 

…

 

It was Natasha’s turn to check the ‘security breach’ as F.R.I.D.A.Y had informed them of for the fifth time today. One of them ended up being a squirrel that unfortunately tried to get to a tree on the opposite side of the fence… poor thing.

 

The group decided to take turns as it was usually just a lingering drunk who got lost in the woods or a lone protester who they would ignore and would eventually go away.

 

To be honest it was getting a little tiring, but they didn’t need any unwanted intrusions as they tried to figure out how to… honesty they didn’t even know what they were trying to figure out.

 

So she checked the cameras before actually going outside to see if they needed to deal with it or not.

 

It was a live video of the front gate, Scott Lang… Ant-Man was standing at the gate yelling at a camera to let him in. She immediately told the AI to inform the others, they met out the front.

 

Thor, Rhodey, Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and Rocket were gathered by the gate, F.R.I.D.A.Y had shut off the electric fence and Steve opened the chains, letting Scott drive inside locking the gate behind him.

 

He jumped out of the car and behind him was a young girl clinging to his hand.

 

“Hey, guys! Long time no see” he said excitedly “This is my daughter, Cassie” he leaned forward and put a hand up to cover one side of his mouth “She knows who you all are” he whispered loudly.

 

“Who is this guy?” Rocket stepped forward, Scott let out a small squeal and Cassie laughed.

 

“Wha-what are you?” Scott asked in amazement.

 

It seemed to be the groups turn to let out a surprised yelp as a giant ant came and stood next to Cassie, who was caressing it’s head.

 

“What is that?” Rhodey asked incredulously

 

There seemed to be quite a bit of explaining to do from both ends.

 

…

 

Tony was laying on the floor among the others, trying to get some sleep. He’d avoided it for days as the hallucinating kicked in replacing the hunger. His eyes were closed, but his mind as always was working in overdrive, especially with the energy from the food kicking in. He couldn’t keep the thoughts away and soon enough he just accepted that they were there.

 

He wondered if Pepper was okay, Rhodey and Happy too. He doesn’t know if any of them had been targeted in the devastation.

 

He wondered if somehow Pepper had received his message, if anybody had.

 

And what if they had, and now they think that he had died.

 

And what of May? Did she know why Peter hadn’t come home, did she know her boy wasn’t coming home?

 

Because Tony knew, Tony knew that the happiest, most intriguing, self sacrificing, kitten saving boy is gone. He disappeared in his arms and floated away with the wind. He cried out for help, cried out for forgiveness… because even in his last loving moments he was thinking of others.

 

Tony once said “If you die, that’s on me” and Peter was sorry for putting the dreaded weight on Tony’s shoulders, for dying. He was sorry for dying.

 

A young boy looked up at Tony from his own spot on the floor, his eyes were bright brown and his hair was mused from sleep. He rubbed his tired eyes with a yawn and Tony couldn’t help but think of Peter.

 

A memory flashed through his mind of one afternoon in the lab, Peter had been studying all week for his finals, come over after school and fallen asleep working on his web shooters. Tony picked him up and moved him to the couch. As he put him down Peter blearily woke up, rubbing his eyes with a short yawn. Tony said quietly “it’s okay kiddo, you sleep” and Peter settled into the couch and closed his eyes again. Tony got F.R.I.D.A.Y to dim the lights and he laid a soft blanket over the boy. For a moment he stood there, looking at Peter. He looked so small and innocent and Tony made a promise to him in that quiet minute, a promise to protect him always.

 

That promise was broken though, broken the second he saw those dark brown eyes looking at him from the hanging form on the flying doughnut.

 

The boy on the floor moved closer looking concerned at Tony, he put his hand out and wiped a tear that had found its way to Tony’s cheek. Then he moved back and closed his eyes again. Tony fell asleep, thinking of a young version of who he thought Peter might have been. A boy who too, would wipe a tear from a strangers face. Because that’s just who Peter was, a kind kid who always thought of others.

 

…

 

Michelle and Ned were in… well inside the gate at least. Ned worked for two straight weeks finding ways around security firewalls, backup firewalls and any other cyber blocker. He studied the blueprints he found inside and out working out the mainframes in the AI’s system, the rhythms of her protocols. Every time Ned would make it through anything, she would block him out and move everything all over again, it was like trying to work out a puzzle box, whilst being inside a washing machine.

 

That was until he realised, thanks to Jasmine and her need to know it all attitude. Pointing to each part of the blueprint and asking “what’s that?” Every five seconds, Ned stopped on one of the drawn out squares after he named the item… The power box.

 

That was the answer, the power box.

 

The only problem was the power box was on the inside of the fence. So that’s how they ended up where they were.

 

The small group had driven out to the forest reserve that backed onto the property, parked right up near the fence to make it easier to climb over, Ned had one chance to get just him and Michelle not burnt to a crisp by the electric fence. Ned had worked it out that he could shut off one section for a maximum of 37seconds.

 

The second he pressed the key on his computer he had strapped to his side by a belt May had Macgyvered up for him, they launched themselves off the roof of the minivan and started climbing for their lives, May was counting down the seconds until the fence turned back on. Turns out tall wire fences are hard to climb quickly, they both made it to the top with five seconds to spare, flipping over the top bar they both ended up dropping to the floor. Thankfully neither of them were hurt bar a scratch on Ned’s elbow.

 

Michelle and May checked the walkie talkies they had bought were synced to the same channel, and Michelle gave Jasmine the job of helping May read the Map for them two (and Lucky) to drive back out to the main road.

 

Ned and Michelle were off then, their little escapade had begun. They found the power box they were looking for and it was surprisingly and incredibly unsecured. Ned done his thing, changing wires here and there, typing at the speed of light. Then he packed all the wires away and Michelle raised her brows at him expectantly.

 

“Okay lets go” Ned said cheerfully. His laptop was set open on his fancy belt as they walked and he looped each camera they were almost in view of until they were passed.

 

Ned said he had to do them as they went along otherwise the artificial intelligence would pick up on the constantly looped cameras as a whole. They had a fifty, fifty chance of getting caught for the same reason in any scenario, but this was the safest option they had. And they moved quickly to make sure the videos weren’t looped for long.

 

They had been walking for twenty minutes when Ned spoke about something other than go or stop.

 

“You know, this is so much bigger than the A3 sheet of Paper we were looking at”

 

Michelle couldn’t help but laugh out at how serious he sounded. And it was the first real laugh she had had in two weeks and Ned followed along with her. In all honesty Ned had never really seen her laugh that much before, and it made this whole situation so much lighter.

 

They eventually made it to a building, it was one of the last buildings in the living apartments of the compound, but it was nice to see some structural fabrication that wasn’t a hand built bird house disguised camera, even if they were initialled with the familiar hand written letters of one P.P or T.S on the underside.

 

They radioed in their status and went ahead with their plan, considering there weren’t any guards working there any more it was actually way easier to get to the main compound than they had anticipated.

 

…

 

Scott smiled as he walked past the two shocked looking teens in the hallway, gave a little wave and left. He thought it was weird they didn’t smile or wave back, but he guessed everyone was pretty down in the dumps at the moment.

 

He turned the corner and walked into the communal eating area where everyone was finishing up for lunch.

 

“Hey, why didn’t you introduce us to the other kids?” He said as he sat down looking out to everyone

 

They all stopped what ever conversation they were in and looked at him.

 

“What? What kids?” Rhodey asked

 

“The two teens I just passed in the hallway” he said shaking his head like they were all idiots about forgetting about two other people.

 

“I waved and smiled, but they just stood there looking at me like they just got caught doin-“ Scott stopped talking. He scrunched his eyebrows in thought then looked back up to the waiting crowd.

 

“Oh shit” Scott said rubbing his face

 

Cassie punched him in the arm, and Scott looked at her apologetically “swear word”

 

“Yeah I know, sorry Pumpkin”

 

Steve and Natasha had already left the room and soon the rest had followed. No one knew who the teens were, what they wanted or if they were alone.

 

They all split up and eventually Nat called out “over here!”

 

Everyone raced to her position.

 

The two teens, one overly excited looking boy eyeing everyone starstruck and a rather non phased dark curly haired girl were surrounded like a common enemy.

 

“Who are you?” Steve asked. The hawaiian boys eyes snapped to attention immediately, whereas The girl seemed to be having a glare off with the black widow.

 

“I-I-I’m Ned, and this is, is Michelle” he barley got out any words.

 

“How did you get in here?” Natasha asked Michelle

 

She gave a small smirk that would remind anyone of the platinum blonde standing in front of the girl “I’m sure that’s an interesting conversation for later, but were not here for that right now”

 

“What are you here for then?” Rhodey spoke up from beside Steve.

 

“What is going on here?” Peppers voice broke the circle around the teens and she walked through the doors with another woman, child and small dog behind her.

 

Everyone stopped and turned to face the new additions to the room.

 

“These Teens here, infiltrated the comp-“

 

“Enough Rhodey” Pepper said with a pointed look and he was shut down immediately.

 

“They’re just trying to find their friend” she said to the groups low murmur that was flattened with one look.

 

“Who are you looking for?” Bruce asked from the back

 

“Peter Parker” The woman who arrived with Pepper spoke for the first time and Rhodey looked at her.

 

“That kid Tones always talks about?” He looks to Pepper and she nodded with a soft smile.

 

“And who are you?” He asks

 

“May Parker, I’m his aunt”

 

Then he looks back to the teens “and you’re Peters friends?”  They nodded.

 

“And what does this kid have to do with us?” Steve said wanting to give up on this game of 21 questions

 

“Because…” all eyes turned to the young girl beside May “ he’s Spider-man” Jasmines small voice could be heard with an echo with how silent the room became.

 

It was like a sudden realisation had hit half of them for one reason and half for another, some knew him as Peter, or of what Tony has spoken about the kid anyway. The other half though, their minds were all conflicted, Spider-man was a teenager…

 

…

 

Tony was woken up by a group of the Asgardians softly playing an arrangement of familiar yet unseen instruments. It was a gentle hum, just enough to wake the group as a whole. A few minutes passed as he sat and watched, listening, before Brunnhilde and Korg entered the room and announced that they would be landing in just a few hours.

 

Stark had a small wave of anxiety course through him, he was coming home, about to land on his home planet… alone. He left as a band of three and was returning as a solo act. He couldn’t stop the shake in his hands, he just had to accept the fact that he had failed and he was going face the music and tell the people down on the surface that they lost, he had lost.

 

He was dreading to see the effect it had on Earth. Half the population would be gone, the world would be in chaos, in mourning. People will be furious and disappointed, they depended on the Avengers to help when no one else could, that was why they were the Avengers for this one very specific reason to save the planet from the extraterrestrials.

 

He didn’t though, he didn’t even make the call on that damn flip phone. He was so emotionally messed up with the thought that he had rather of left the planet on an alien space ship than make the call to Rogers. And turns out, that wasn’t exactly the best option he could have taken, he might not have lost his kid.

 

Whoa.

 

His kid…

 

“Stark?” Brunnhilde said loudly, almost a shout.

 

He turned to her blinking a few times before clearing his throat. Almost everyone around him was staring… how many times had she called his name he wondered. Probably not many, she doesn’t seem one for patience.

 

“What’s up?”

 

“Where are we going?” She said walking away

 

Tony stood and scurried after her “What!? What do you mean, where are we going?”

 

She stopped, drooping he shoulders, spinning around to face him with a look of disinterest “It is your planet dummy, none of us have ever been there”

 

Oh. Right.

 

…

 

Pepper had watched, and watched, and watched Tony say those final words to her. Tell her that it is okay, tell her he would dream of her because it was always her. She cried the first twelve times, then she laughed at his joke the thirteenth and before she knew it Natasha was asking if she should bring her a plate of food for dinner.

 

Dinner, she honestly didn’t know if she would be physically able to eat after hearing what Tony had said. So she dismissed the blonde and asked F.R.I.D.A.Y to play the video again.

 

She had an idea float through her mind as she drifted of to sleep hunched over in the vintage leather armchair she had pulled to sit in before the screen. Her eyes flung open and she ran out the room calling for Natasha.

 

Not thirty seconds later she had emerged from a hallway “What is it?”

 

“Where did the transmission come from? Do you know?” Pepper asked desperate

 

Natasha gave her a sorry look “We didn’t find a location, Pepper. None of us have the computer smarts like Tony does. We had the thought to hack a satellite or something from NASA, but-“

 

“Ned” Pepper spoke away from their conversation, and had started walking in the opposite direction already.

 

“Where is Ned?” Pepper asked Natasha this time, not actually knowing what direction she should be heading.

 

Natasha quickly caught up with her “That kid?”

 

“Nat please” she stopped and grabbed the other woman’s arm, her voice was filled with so much pain.

 

“Come on, they’re in the room we set up for them”

 

-

 

Ned was playing a game of go fish with a pack of cards Michelle had found. It was him and Jas against Michelle and May. He was quickly learning the Jasmine was just as much of a card shark as Michelle was, and he was glad to have the competitive team mate. The two just set their plan to go in for their fourth win when there was a frantic knock on the door of their room.

 

They all jumped, still on edge from everything that had happened today. The game stopped and May stood to answer, Jas made her way over to sit on Michelle’s lap.

 

It was Pepper and Natasha.

 

“Is Ned here?” He heard and looked over to Michelle as if she should tell him what to do.

 

May answered nodding her head, opening the door and moving aside for the two to enter.

 

Ned stood along with Michelle and Jasmine who was clinging to her older sisters hand.

 

“Hi, Miss Potts.” Ned gave a small worried smile “Did you find something out about Peter?”

 

He saw the way Miss Potts pursed her lips as he asked, he remembered over hearing the Black Widow talking to Captain America about how the woman was still watching the transmission from Mr Stark at dinner.

 

“No, sorry. But I think I could make some use of your hacking skills” she said hesitantly

 

He furrowed his brow and again looked to Michelle, she had stepped forward next to him now obviously intrigued.

 

“I’ve heard a lot about how talented you are on the computer, I remember the time you hacked into Peters suit on a school trip. Tony didn’t stop talking about it for weeks” Pepper laughed softly

 

Ned couldn’t find any words, they were all gone, dissipated to a mumble and a laugh.

 

“So you’ll help us then?” Pepper smiled at him

 

“He’ll help” Michelle said with a chuckle looking at her flustered friend, after he left a rather pregnant and open pause.

 

“Great, what do you think you’ll need to hack into NASA?” Natasha said with a smirk watching the boys eyes open wide.

 

…

 

Steve, Scott, Cassie, and Rhodey were in the common room of the compound. All sat on the couches listening to Steve’s stories of some of the moments in the past two years of being in hiding, Cassie had her head resting on Scott’s lap and was quickly drifting off to sleep.

 

Her head swayed just off the edge of his knee Steve and Rhodey had flinched and Scott caught her like the pro dad he is before she could fall head first onto the floor.  “Okay, Pumpkin I think it’s bed time for us. See you guys” he let out a strangled puff of air as he lifted his nine year old to his hip and she wrapped her arms over his shoulders “tomorrow” he finished.

 

The two soldiers bid them off before restoring their conversation again, to a new topic.

 

“Scott is a good Dad” Steve looked to Rhodey for confirmation.

 

He nodded before answering “He’s lucky she is still here”

 

Steve looked down to his hands “I wonder about Clint and his family, we still haven’t heard anything”

 

“Don’t loose faith Steve, half the globe has no way to access any communication devices yet.” Rhodey tried to reassure him.

 

“Yeah.” Steve’s face looked pained thinking of all the loss in the world.

 

Rhodey leaned back into his seat “I wonder what happened with Peter though, up there going to fight a battle he had no reason to fight.”

 

“That kid those teens were asking about? Did you know him?” Steve nodded once in his asking.

 

“Yeah, well I’d only met him once but I knew more enough about him from how much Tones talked about him. Bright kid, talks a lot, always gave Tony a run for his money” Rhodey shook his head with a small smile.

 

“Tell me about him” Steve smiled at Rhodey’s fondness.

 

Rhodey took a second to think about what to say, he knew so many stories through his friend. “The one time I met him. I was coming over to find Tony, he hadn’t answered any of Ross’ calls for a week. Usually he’d at least have the courtesy of answering the phone before putting the man on hold for a few hours, anyway I was sent over to talk to him. So I pull up here at the compound, expecting to find Tony moping around because him and Pepper had a fight or something. I walk in the front door and someone tells me he’s in his home, so I head there across the grass and walk inside.

 

I walk in the lounge room, the coffee table was covered in tissues and there was 2 empty bowls and two glasses of water on the table. That gave me a reason for the unanswered phone calls, but when I walked around to the other side of the couch. Tony was asleep with this bundle of brown curly hair and a runny nosed kid fast asleep on him, wrapped tight in his arms.” Rhodey huffed a laugh “Apparently they had been locked up together because they both got sick and May and Pepper ended up going on a getaway to Hawaii for the week. It was such a different side to Tony that I hadn’t seen before Steve. Even if he won’t admit it to me, he loves that kid”

 

Steve couldn’t believe the words as they left Rhodey’s mouth. “Do you have” Steve looked to Rhodey as he waited for Steve to finish, but he shook his head “never mind”

 

“No, no, do I have what?” Rhodey pushed

 

Steve’s shoulders relaxed “Do you have a picture?” he asked almost shyly.

 

Rhodey thought for a moment, his phone was god knows where… but “Fri you got any pictures of Tones and the kid?”

 

“Of course, I am programmed to take pictures of any worthy moments. It’s called the Petey Pics Protocol” The sweet voice of F.R.I.D.A.Y. helpfully aided. Then a random unseen screen lit up on the other side of the room and the two men stood and made their way over to it.

 

“wow” Rhodey said with a intake of air “that’s a lot of pictures”

 

Steve watched as every few seconds a new picture lit up the screen as the computer started showing them as a slide show. Each one showing the two together playing around, being goofy or working in the lab together. One of them in their suits in ridiculous poses, one with Peter unimpressed and covered in ice-cream as Tony laughed in the background, there were selfies of just Peter at school or on excursions that were stamped in texts, they kept coming, a never ending haul of captured moments over the past two years of a forming bond between them. Steve stood there until the last picture showed, and the sun began to rise. It was one of just Peter, the date being the day of the devastation. Peter was on a bus with the two teens that were lingering around somewhere in the compound, they were all smiling and Peter held a peace sign just as Tony does. It was captioned: MOMA here we come! See you later Mr Stark! With a single red heart emoji.

…

 

Ned sat down with the computer he came in with, Natasha and Pepper were with him sat in Tony’s old study.

 

“What exactly does Tony use this for? I’ve never seen him in an office before” Natasha said after a gap of silence, letting Ned settle in and type away.

 

Pepper was surprised from her thoughts “oh, um” She crossed her arms “This is just the entrance to his workshop, he wanted a secret entrance to be cool or something” she laughed. “but,”she was looking over at Ned with sorry eyes as she said “This is where Peter usually came to do his homework.”

 

Ned’s fingers stopped in their movements “Tony would send him up here so he wouldn’t get distracted in the lab” she rolled her eyes at the fond memory of the bickering pair.

 

Ned cleared his throat as he looked around the room, then began typing again. There wasn’t another word spoken until Ned called out that he had successfully hacked into NASA’s mainframe.

 

“Okay, what exactly am I looking for Miss Potts?” Ned said unsure

 

“Well, there had to be some way for Tony’s message to get through to us. I was thinking maybe NASA would have some satellites out there that might have sourced it out and sent it back through others until it reached here.” Pepper waited for Ned’s response as he looked to be calculating her words through his mind.

 

He turned back to his screen and started typing again. Pepper looked to Nat and she shrugged her shoulders then leaned over Ned’s shoulder to see what he was doing.

 

“that” a few more keys were hit “is extremely” more code scrolled passed their eyes “smart” he slammed his finger down on a final key, a computer hackers metaphorical mic drop.

 

Pepper blinked quickly biting her lip in anticipation to his explanation. Ned just smiled at her with his usual cheesy grin he doesn’t think he’s shown in weeks.

 

“Ned” Natasha crossed her arms, which was encouraging enough for him to start moving his lips.

 

“I found their list of satellites and back traced through each one that had been pinged with the transmission, then I cross referenced each satellite with the transmission to their position, which I had to do twice because I remembered that they’re in orbit and are constantly moving so I found their positions from where they where at the time they were hit with the transmission and where they were when they sent it through to the next satellite. Which in turn gave me a direct path to where the message was projected from, well which direction from space it was sent from I suppose.” the boy had a grin on his face.

 

“...and?” Natasha asked as Pepper was still scrambling her mind to catch up with his words. She thought she had a hard time understanding what Peter was saying when he was excited.

 

“Wait, you’re excited, you found something else didn’t you?” She asked with a glee of her own seeping into every word.

 

“A satellite just picked up a new frequency, from a ship entering our atmosphere.” Ned spoke like he’d hit the jackpot. Though Natasha instantly became tense.

 

“Ned, the last ship that entered our atmosphere destroyed half of Wakanda.” She said about to leave the room and inform the other’s of the new intrusion.

 

“Wait!” He called out “This is different!” his words stopped the spy in her stride.

 

“how do you know that?” Pepper asked.

 

Ned turned the computer screen to face her, a smile lighting up her face in an instant.

 

…

 

Tony was in the control room of the escape pod. A room full of buttons with unknown functions sat before him eager for his hands to discover their use. The Valkyrie stood behind him as he sat in the pilot seat. He racked his brain for what he should do, this ships controls were much different to the one of the flying doughnut and he didn’t have the only bright eyed and optimistic co-pilot he wanted helping him.

 

Although putting Peter in a room full of shiny, glowing buttons was probably not the best idea, he would still have rathered that option over the latter. The latter that took just over three days for the blue robot chick to convince him to leave the scene of.

 

He wondered if said blue robot chick, Nebula, had ended up where she wanted. He’s sure he will find out sooner than later. She was pretty stubborn and with out her, he probably would still be sitting in the pile of Peters ashes right about now, lying with him in the breathless forever sleep.

 

They were on autopilot to earth, that’s all he knew. Didn’t know exactly where on earth they were headed for, didn’t know what of earth was left if he was completely honest. But there were at least 200 asguardians putting their faith in him to land this giant shuttle bus.

 

He moved around looking at the different functions of the ship, Brunnhilde new more then he thought she did, naming mostly everything he would point to. Yet she too, did not know how to work the controls further than writing in a destination and clicking auto pilot. She told him how different her old ships functions were, and how much she missed it. The way she described it gave Tony the conclusion that it was a perfect fit for her.

 

Tony noticed a small lip in the table and pressed down on it, nothing happened so he pressed the button that sat close to it’s side. They were both surprised as a holographic screen and key pad appeared out of nowhere. The keys symbols were of a different alien language that Brunnhilde had apparently come very accustomed to during her time on Sakaar. She told him what they each were, and tuns out it was the exact setting of an English keyboard… what are the odds. And due to Tony’s expertise talent of typing without looking he got to work, sending off a message to NASA knowing well enough of what their satellites are for now day’s with all the recent extraterrestrial excursions to their planet. He decided to send a message worthy of “we come in peace” or more along the line of “I’m back, bitches”

 

…

 

Natasha, Pepper and Ned ran into the common room to find just Steve and Rhodey alone on the couch.

 

“What’s going on?” Steve asked startled by the sudden commotion

 

“We found Tony, he’s alive and he’s coming” Pepper looked to Rhodey as she spoke, who stood as quickly as his braces would allow him.

 

“How do you know?” The Colonel asked rushing to Pepper.

 

“Show them” Natasha said to Ned. The boy spun his laptop around to face the two new observers, two different emotions running over their faces at the coded image before them.

 

It was a black screen covered in hundreds of random letters, numbers and symbols. But right in the centre they came together to shape the Iron Man suit holding up an elusive peace sign.

 

“He’s alive” Rhodey said in such a relief. He walked over to Pepper and their hug was filled with laughter

 

“I have to tell May and Michelle! Peter will be with him!” Ned smiled wide as he left them all, running back through the door.

 

Natasha looked to Steve “We have to wake the others, Friday do you mind?”

 

“Not at all” F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s voice sounded almost cheerful

 

By the time everyone had made there way into the common room, sleep filled eyes and untamed hair alike they realised that they didn’t exactly know when the ship would be landing. After an hour of standing around the common room, Cassie and Jasmine had fallen asleep laying together on the couch still holding their playing cards and Rocket had made himself quite comfortable as he dozed off leaning up against a coffee table leg. The others were quietly chatting between themselves.

 

Some were more anxious than most for Tony’s arrival, others were much more excited and hopeful he wasn’t to be alone. Ned hadn’t stopped bouncing his leg for the passed half an hour and Pepper hadn’t stopped pacing from one side of the room to the other. Steve on the other hand had changed position whether it be in a chair or standing every few minutes and even then he wouldn’t stop moving or fidgeting. Scott and Rhodey had gone and retrieved some beverages and snacks earlier that a few people were passing their time on others though as in Michelle and Natasha had started an extremely intense game of chess that had attracted some on lookers.

 

Then finally after what felt like an extra lifetime of waiting the large glass windows of the common room caught the hue of a bright orange flicker of light, like a fire swallowing a mountain side. There wasn’t a word that could be spoken over the loud roar of the ships engines as its orbit came to a halt and it touched ground. No one had expected the size of what they were seeing nor the amount of people that emerged from the doors.

 

Every person was in awe, their minds of the unknown wondering off each to their own accord. All brought back to reality at the exciting shriek that emitted from the mouth of the god. Thor practically skipped his way down the halls leading the way to the ship full of his people.

 

…

 

“Okay just be calm about this, they know we were coming but we don’t know how this has effected the planet, or who is even coming to meet us” Brunnhilde announced over the nervous mummers throughout the ship.

 

Tony was standing by her side staring blankly at the floor, his heart racing a million beats per minute. He hadn’t thought much past Pepper, Rhodey and Happy. Earth would be in ruin, a decimation of the ages passed through like a breeze taking life after life leaving a select few to fend for themselves. He was worried that maybe instead of banding together and helping each other through the pain of loss that the people of this world became angry instead and turned on each other in their weakest moments.

 

And who was left of the foe he once had, the few he hadn’t called and warned of the problems ahead before taking off after the wizard with a stowaway? Who was left behind of the mighty avengers, and who had taken their fall?

 

The ships doors began to lower to the ground, a small mass of Asgaurdians slowly emerging to the outside world they had never stepped foot on before this moment. Tony could see a few figures huddled together on the grass making their way over to the ship. There weren’t as many as he had hoped and a lump formed in his throat.

 

As he slowly made his way to the bottom of the ramp, a Valkyrie and Living Rock by each side one of the figures from the group on the grass came and landed from the sky before them, smile spread across his face from ear to ear and giant axe in hand. Thor came straight up to them spreading his arms wide pulling in Tony to his his left and Brunnhilde to his right.

 

“Okay point break, happy to see you too” Tony patted him on the shoulder as Brunnhilde giggled at the wheeze in his voice.

 

Thor let go and started helping the people off the ship who seemed over joyed to see their king alive and well.

 

“What are you waiting for Stark? She’s waiting for you” Thor called out

 

Tony looked at him with surprise then turned and began to run across the field of grass, it didn’t take long to spot Pepper, her strawberry blond hair glowing from the lights of the ship. She was running too, faster and faster as tears fell with every step.

 

As they made it within arms reach they melted into a hug that felt like a life force of need. Pepper had her arms wrapped around him as tight as she could not wanting to let go, she couldn’t, she didn’t want to lose him again.

 

When they broke apart only enough to look at the face of the other a voice came from nearby saying just one word that changed Tony’s mood in an instant. It was May, calling out for her boy, calling out for Peter.

 

Tony took in a shaky breath as his eyes left Pepper who could see what was happening the moment he did, because Peter would have been standing right by Tony’s side if he were here.

 

…

 

“Peter! Peter!” May was calling out through the crowd that was slowly approaching, he had to be amongst them, he had to be there somewhere.

 

“May” She heard a ragged voice come from behind her.

 

She turned around to face Tony, Pepper a foot behind him tears still glistening in her eyes.

 

“Tony, oh Tony. Where’s Peter? Is, is he alright? Is he hurt, should we call for a”

 

Tony grabbed her by the shoulders forcing her to look at him, forcing her to see so he didn’t have to say the words.

 

“May” he said as she looked over his face

 

“Where” her voice fell quiet “Where is he, Tony, where’s my boy?” she held his elbows as her eyes began to fill with tears and her breaths were short and fast.

 

Tony drops a tear from his own eye as he opens his mouth, he tries, tries so hard to say something… anything, but he can’t.

 

“no” May shakes her head “no, no, no” she weeps out as her face contorts and she looks around to look for Peter.

 

“May, he” Tony chokes on his own words and her eyes keep scanning the crowd, her body frozen in it’s place.

 

“Where is he, Peter!” She doesn’t listen, and she calls his name again and it’s like Tony breaks all over again, like he is back on Titan with Peters dust filling his fingernails and the air that surrounds him.

 

“May he’s gone! Peter is gone!” He shakes her to realisation, and she looks at him again her cheeks flooding like his own. “I couldn’t save him, I couldn’t” Tony swallows and he feels like he can’t breathe.

 

He looks around to see everyone unmoving in their place, looking at the tender scene unfolding before their eyes, Ned is folded into Michelle’s arms sobbing profusely, Rhodey is just off to the side with a look of sorrow, Steve and Natasha a little further away but still close enough to see the glisten in their eyes. Even Scott was there with a young girl he was holding close like the words that fell from Tony’s lips were going to steal his kid away too.

 

May fell into Tony’s chest like she was out of breath, he wrapped his arms around her and stood there listening to her cries that were full of her pain and loss. Her kid is gone, his kid is gone and their hearts are tearing away. Tony had already grieved as May was still waiting around with hope, hope that Tony had just stolen away and burned in front of her eyes. And watching that is like his grief was jump started and put back into first gear, right at the beginning full of regret and no will to do anything other than sit and wallow over the kid, over being defeated.


End file.
